From synthesis to evaluation. Moving to evaluation requires students to develop an objective rating system for their source articles. Often, students at lower levels of the complexity will struggle with whether to include their own opinions in a literature review (Froese et al., 1998). At the evaluation level, students understand that opinion is not the primary method of evaluation, but reasoned and articulated assessment of the source articles is essential to making evaluative comparisons. To complete this task, students must use the information gleaned at the analysis level to analyze the quality of the research or other types of source articles. They should have clearly defined criteria developed beforehand that will help them make these judgments.

Writing a cognitively advanced literature review is a difficult but important skill for counseling students. Cognitive complexity in writing has been linked to enhanced learner-directed learning, an important component of adult and graduate education (Brookfield, 1989). It also is consistent with developing advanced capacity for critical thought (Rivard, 1994).

Faculty cannot assume that students who are cognitively advanced in other areas of their lives or in other areas of their academic programs will necessarily transfer those skills to their writing. Simpson, Dalgaard, and O’Brien (1986) and Granello (1999) studied the cognitive complexity of graduate students and found that students regressed in their cognitive development when they were faced with new and unfamiliar tasks. These findings can be applied to the process of graduate level writing. Students without a conceptual understanding of the goals and process of cognitively complex writing may easily resort to lower levels of complexity. Certainly, without a model or a goal for writing, it would be difficult for them to use the experience to push their thinking to higher levels of complexity through the process of writing.